June 23, 2009
Ashley Edwards/Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1756/0668
ashley.edwards-1@nasa.gov, grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov
Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-207-3280
jonas.dino@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 09-145
NASA MOON IMPACTOR SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES LUNAR MANEUVER
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, or LCROSS, successfully completed its most significant
early mission milestone Tuesday with a lunar swingby and calibration
of its science instruments. The satellite will search for water ice
in a permanently shadowed crater at the moon's south pole.
With the assist of the moon's gravity, LCROSS and its attached Centaur
booster rocket successfully entered into polar Earth orbit at 6:20
a.m. PDT on June 23. The maneuver puts the spacecraft and Centaur on
course for a pair of impacts near the moon's south pole on Oct. 9.
"The successful completion of the LCROSS swingby proves the science
instruments are functioning as expected. It is a testament to the
hard work and dedication of the entire team" said Dan Andrews, LCROSS
project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif. "We are elated at the results from the maneuver and eagerly
anticipate the impacts in early October."
During its swing by the moon, the spacecraft's instruments were turned
on and calibrated by scanning three sites on the lunar surface. These
sites were the craters Mendeleev, Goddard C and Giordano Bruno. They
were selected because they offer a variety of terrain types,
compositions and illumination conditions. The spacecraft also scanned
the lunar horizon to confirm its instruments are aligned in
preparation for observing the Centaur's debris plume.
"Each instrument returned good data that the science team will spend
the next few weeks analyzing," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project
scientist at Ames. "These data will ensure we are as prepared as
possible for monitoring and interpreting data we receive during
impact."
LCROSS and its attached Centaur upper stage rocket are now in a long,
looping polar orbit around Earth and the moon. Each orbit will be
roughly perpendicular to the moon's orbit around Earth and take about
37 days to complete. Before impact, the spacecraft and Centaur will
make approximately three orbits.
LCROSS and the Centaur separately will collide with the moon at
approximately 7:30 a.m. EDT on Oct. 9, creating a pair of debris
plumes that will be analyzed for the presence of water ice or water
vapor, hydrocarbons and hydrated materials. The spacecraft and
Centaur are targeted to impact the moon's south pole near the Cabeus
region. The exact target crater will be identified 30 days before
impact, after considering information collected by NASA's Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter and observatories on Earth.
Nine hours before impact, about 54,000 miles above the surface, LCROSS
and the Centaur will separate. LCROSS will spin 180 degrees to turn
its science payload toward the moon and fire thrusters to create
distance from the Centaur. The spacecraft will observe the flash from
the Centaur's impact and fly through the debris plume. Data will be
collected and streamed to Earth for analysis. Four minutes later,
LCROSS also will impact, creating a second debris plume.
The LCROSS mission is providing mission updates on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/lcross_nasa
For more information about NASA's LCROSS mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/lcross
-end-